I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 534

To provide that a special census shall be conducted, without charge to a

requesting State, county, or other unit of government, if necessary to

correct a significant undercount in a decennial census which is due,

in whole or in part, to a natural disaster or similar situation.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 21, 1993

Mr. PANETTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

A BILL

To provide that a special census shall be conducted, without

charge to a requesting State, county, or other unit of

government, if necessary to correct a significant

undercount in a decennial census which is due, in whole

or in part, to a natural disaster or similar situation.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT SPECIAL CENSUSES.

4 The Secretary of Commerce shall conduct a special

5 census for the government of a State, or of a county, city,

6 or other political subdivision within a State, for the gov7 ernment of the District of Columbia, or for the govern-
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1 ment of any possession or area (including political subdivi2 sions thereof) referred to in section 191(a) of title 13,

3 United States Code, without charge to such government,

4 if—

5 (1) the special census is necessary to correct a

6 significant undercount which occurred in the most

7 recent decennial census of population with respect to

8 the area involved;

9 (2) a natural disaster or other emergency af10 fecting such area, as declared by the President, was

11 a major factor contributing to the undercount; and

12 (3) a request for such a census is made by such

13 government within such time and in such manner as

14 the Secretary shall by regulation prescribe, except

15 that the deadline for such a request may not be

16 fixed at a point before the end of the 18-month pe17 riod beginning on the most recent decennial census

18 date.

19 SEC. 2. METHODOLOGY TO BE USED IN SPECIAL CENSUSES.

20 A special census under this Act with respect to a par21 ticular area shall, to the extent practicable, be conducted

22 in the same manner and using the same methodologies

23 as were used with respect to such area in the decennial

24 census last taken before the special census.
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSES FOR WHICH DATA MAY BE USED.

2 Data collected pursuant to a special census under this

3 Act may be used for any purpose which would be allowable

4 if it had been conducted under section 196 of title 13,

5 United States Code.

6 SEC. 4. EXPEDITIOUS ACTION REQUIRED.

7 Upon receiving a request for a special census under

8 this Act—

9 (1) a determination as to whether or not the

10 criteria under section 1 have been met shall be made

11 as expeditiously as possible; and

12 (2) if the criteria under section 1 are deter13 mined to have been met, the special census con14 ducted under this Act pursuant to such request

15 shall, in the allocation of personnel and resources, be

16 given priority over any special census under section

17 196 of title 13, United States Code.

18 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

19 For the purpose of this Act, the term ‘‘decennial cen20 sus date’’ shall have the meaning given such term under

21 section 141 of title 13, United States Code.

22 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—A special census under this Act

24 may be conducted to correct an undercount in—

25 (1) the 1990 decennial census, if appropriate

26 application is submitted within 18 months after the
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1 date as of which regulations to carry out this Act be2 come effective; or

3 (2) any decennial census subsequent to the

4 1990 decennial census.

5 (b) REGULATIONS.—Regulations to carry out this

6 Act shall become effective not later than 3 months after

7 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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